Film Dept. in business with 'Lorelei'

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NEW YORK -- In its first announced acquisition, Mark Gill and Neil Sacker's new indie production outfit the Film Department has nabbed Chloe King's script "Lorelei" and will produce the film with Sandbar Pictures.

The darkly comic drama tells the story of an embattled New York divorced couple who learn that the only way to save their ill daughter is to have another child together. Sandbar's Greg Little and Lizzie Friedman, Film Department CEO Gill, King and Robert Katz will produce the project. Film Department COO Sacker will executive produce.

" 'Lorelei' is an extraordinary story that confounds expectations at every turn," Gill said. "It's dramatic, very funny, full of conflict, stunningly authentic and in the end enormously satisfying."

King's credits include "Poison Ivy II" for New Line Cinema and "B. Monkey" (with Michael Radford and Michael Thomas) for Miramax Films.

The Film Department launched June 28 with $200 million in initial capital and a goal to produce six star-driven mainstream genre films a year, each budgeted in the $10 million-$35 million range.

Sandbar, founded in 2004 by Little and Friedman, has produced Daniel Waters' bIack comedy "Sex and Death 101" and is in production on Tom Shepard's documentary "Whiz Kids."

King is repped by ICM. Darren Frank of Eisner & Frank represented Sandbar on the deal.